The early 1950s saw the beginning of teenage music. Amateur singing groups popped up all over the USA and the world. They performed songs about teenage love, life, and included some incredible echo-driven harmonies. Enjoy an evening of early Rock and Roll during the Doo Wop phenomenon. We will cover the history and styles of this genre and survey the most successful artists such a Frankie Lymon, The Del-Vikings, The Elegants, Dion and The Marcels.
- What is Doo-Wop? Its origins and development in the early 1950s.
- Early artists such as the Crows who had the first classic Doo-Wop song sung by a teenage group.
- The development of Doo-Wop along side of the hard Rock and Roll that was also present. This was the romantic slow dancing music.
- A survey of the stars of Doo-Wop and its major songs. We will hear The Tokens, The Dells, Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, The Marcels, Dion and the Belmonts, The Diamonds, The Rays, The Crests and many more.
- What happened to Doo-Wop? It morphed into the Beach Boys and R&B and other things.
By the end of this course, students should be able to:
- Appreciate the styles of Doo-Wop that were created by young untrained singers
- Explore the structure of the Doo-Wop Song and how a simple thing could become so emotional and complex
3.Gain knowledge of the history and development of the genre
4. Understand the place of this music in the Post-War and Cold War global environment
